Fluffy Butt Acres: Stories of our flock

[Shadrach]

@BY Bob's post about my Legbars made me have the exact same thought that I need to figure out eggs/year and choose the smallest number possible!

Jungle fowl lay around 30 eggs a year I think.
My friends Fayoumies started off laying around 120 eggs a year. He's got that down to less than 100 now.
I took my camera the last time I visited. Complete waste of effort. It's, there's one....nope, it's gone. He's got two families from his collection living on his neighbors land which is some 50 acres of woodland. Not really a problem he says apart from his dogs want to go and keep an eye on then and of course, dogs can't fly!

 

[Shadrach]

they're supposed to be great mum.

Unless mum's called Bracket!

 

[Shadrach]

Welcome back, stranger. We have been watching for smoke signals.

Thank you. Just have to catch up on 4 threads now. There were some small smoke signals when the router burnt out thanks to a lightning strike close to a power line. It took out quite a lot of electronics in this valley apparently.

 

[Shadrach]

I am so happy to see a post from you. This made my day. Welcome back my friend.

Thank you.

 

[Shadrach]

I have an old Jag hand-me-down from my parents that has been sitting for 5(?) years undriven. I shudder to think what the rats have done under the hood.

What type of Jag?

 

[Aussie-Chookmum]

Let's talk Molting

I think Hattie has been talking to Alice.
View attachment 2344848View attachment 2344849

She has a cloud of feathers around her right now like Pig Pen had dust.

Poor baby.

Oh dear. I'm off line for a few days and this happens!

I'm sorry ByBob. Alice must have hopped onto BeakBook when I wasn't looking. I will have a stern word with her.

Hopefully her moult will not be as hard as Alice's was!

 

[BY Bob]

There you are, Shad! Yes, I’ve been cleaning up feed. However, my husband’s bunny feed is all over the place.

edited to add: Oops. I didn’t mean to post that yet. Not only that, but I’ve done some tree work this year. I seriously use a handsaw and I’ve moved several hundreds of pounds of tree by myself. However, I have not broken it down properly. I’ve been creating piles of branches around the periphery of the yard. I knew they shouldn’t be there because of fire danger, but thought I’d get to them eventually. Also, they create a nice barrier to keep the chickens in the yard. Well… it did not occur to me that I was creating a perfect rat habitat. Gross! I am attacking it this weekend. We are also attacking any piles of crap, pardon my language, that are around the yard. And I don’t mean actual crap… I mean junk. Like an old bunny hutch here, an old slide from a play structure there, but that all has to go.

Sounds like a lot of work but a good start.
Don't work too hard.

 

[Aussie-Chookmum]

When I calm down a bit (I woke up still angry about the whole thing) I am going to contact the farm where I got the young ladies and ask him a load of questions about his chickens.
I never thought to ask - he isn't a large scale operation so I am hoping he has more robust chickens but I have no idea.
If not, I need to figure out where to get chickens that will be able to have full lives. Not many options around me unfortunately.

I wonder if @CrazyChookChookLady would be willing to let you adopt a couple of her pullets when the time comes? You could meet up halfway between your places and have bonus human socializing as well!

It doesn't look that far on Google Maps.....

 

[BY Bob]

I’m glad we can have a civilized discussion. Disclaimer: Mine are ALL hatchery stock AND a UC Davis necropsy suggested I might have Marek’s in my flock. (Though that was not the cause of her peril... my Margo had egg yolk peritonitis (EYP) that went septic. The Marek’s, which was only diagnosed by something about caps on nerve endings if I remember correctly, for sure no tumors, may have compromised her immune system.) So from hatchery stock, here are my losses:

• Rusty, New Hampshire Red, age 18 months, EYP
• Margo, Brown Leghorn, age 3.5 years, EYP
• Bagheer, Black Australorp, age 3.5 years, fatty liver hemorrhagic syndrome (probably my fault)
• Happy Cheeks, Salmon Faverole, 2 weeks, cause of death unknown, but symptoms were Marek’s-like

Other health problems in my flock:
• Dorothy, California White, 18 months, which is 3/4 Leghorn - problems with egg shells
• Ruby, Buckeye, 3.5 years, hormone related problem that presents like cystic right oviduct
• Roxy, Silver Laced Wyandotte, 3.5 years, intermittent yellow urates, black poop and pale comb
• Lucky, Blue Laced Red Wyandotte, 3.5 years, egg shell is always wrinkled on one end and recently had a soft egg break inside. I think she’s too fat, which is probably my fault

On a good note, Bridge is a Plymouth Barred Rock, 4.5 years old and seems to be doing well. She, too, was probably too fat, but I think I’ve been successful in slimming her down. She has super long, slow molts, and hardly lays anymore.

Thanks for letting me share.

• So of my original four, 2 had bad genes, one was fat, and one seems healthy.
• Of the next six, half have had health issues of some kind, but only Ruby got them early on.
• Of the next four, one died at two weeks, one seems to have bad genes, and the other two seem good so far (though Ester has pigment issues on her shells and lately calcium deposits)
• The three chicks who are seven weeks old seem good so far.

I feel since I’m working with a suboptimal gene pool, I have to be extra diligent with their health. I buy premium feed and provide as much free range time as I am comfortable with. They’d be way healthier with more, but I’m not willing to risk predator losses, which would surely happen. I am not as good as I should be with enrichment inside the run. Now that fall is coming, I’ll bring a bunch of leaves in, which should help. I do not provide many treats, but I keep some pasture green all year round. It’s mostly grass and clover.

Someday in the future, maybe in retirement, I’d like to have a really healthy flock with good genes. I’d have to research where to get them and would like a dedicated flock guardian dog so they could free range more. I’d also like the rooster experience someday, but I’m not sure in what capacity. One flock rooster? Tribes like Shad? A separate rooster flock? I just don’t know. It’s fun to dream, though!

This is a wonderful breakdown of your clock's health so far. Hopefully someday you can get to experience your ideal state.

 

[Aussie-Chookmum]

Would you believe that I had just posted my previous comment and scrolled down to see this one of yours RC?

Great minds think alike...

This happens to me with Ribh too.

Smuggling one of @Shadrach's chickens back home with me is beyond tempting!
But practically it is very confusing. Maggie is a Rhode Island Red which is described as a 'Heritage Breed' (unlike ISAs), but then the vet says RIRs have been bred to 'production standards' (shudder). So I think you need 'heritage breeds' that are also not bred for production. Or, barnyard mutts which is more where I lean. I am wondering if next time I have room for new chicks I see if I can persuade @CrazyChookChookLady to part with a Ned or Lucky offspring!

Or maybe the farm guy near me where I got the Young Ladies is actually breeding real chickens not production chickens in which case that will be easy.
Thank you all for hearing me out. Still fuming